WoTM - Cloof Inkspot 2019

 

My Wine of The Month for April is Cloof Inkspot 2019. The bottle is festooned with stickers but it seems they were awarded by only two organisations.

The bottle has no information on what grape varieties are in it, but the man in the shop I got it from told me that it was a Cape Blend. According to Cloof's website they are Pinotage, Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Platter says there is a little Viognier as well.

The wine is quite firm with layers of fruit and a spine of tannins. It's well made but somehow just not very moreish and it's the first bottle in a long time that we don't finish.

WoTM - Bellevue 1953 -Vintage 2016 Pinotage

 My Wine of The Month for March is Bellevue '1953', vintage 2016.

Bellevue are a Pinotage pioneer, making the wine that was the first to be sold commercially under the Stellenbosch Family Winery brand 'Lanzerac'.

Now the old vineyard, with its twisted bush vines growing on sandy soil is having its grapes bottled separately under the year '1953' it was planted. It is one of the worlds oldest existing Pinotage vineyards. 

Only 600 bottles of 2016 vintage were produced. After nine years the wine is stately and serious. Like a fine old claret with a rounder body. The sweetness and youthful fruit has left and this wine demands a good steak or roasted loin of beef. Delicious.

 

I last had this wine at Bellevue's restaurant in 2018 when it was young and I bought a bottle home with me which I've kept till now.

See here for my report on that lunch and here for the announcement of the bottling

WoTM - DeWaal 'Top of the Hill' 2015

 

My Wine of The Month for February is DeWaal 'Top of the Hill' Pinotage 2015. This is from the world's oldest Pinotage vineyard, literally at the crown of a hill. 

The vines were planted in 1950, so they were 65 years old when this wine was made.

I've stored it since buying in 2018 and at nine years of age the wine has thrown off the fruits of youth and developed a fine Claret-like flavour. It was an excellent example of how good Pinotage develops as it ages.